Helicopter relief missions underway in North Carolina

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reports that relief helicopters are delivering supplies to residents trapped by severe flooding in western North Carolina on Sept. 30.

Transcript

00:00All right, some of the communities hit hardest by flooding in Western North

00:04Carolina can only be reached by helicopter. At Greathers, Bill Waddell is

00:10live for us this morning in Asheville. And Bill, you met volunteers who are

00:14bringing in help from above. Yeah, that's right. Ari Bernie. Good morning

00:19to you. We've been meeting people who tell us that they saw the videos and

00:23pictures on social media of the catastrophic flooding of all of this

00:27as well as other people who tell us they have loved ones have been trapped

00:31up on those mountains. They haven't heard from them in days. They tell us

00:34they couldn't sit back and wait. They pulled together and they organized

00:37helicopter relief missions on their own. Now, up in the mountains of Swannanoa,

00:42not far from here, we actually saw search and rescue crews still out

00:46yesterday, right before sunset, searching the riverbanks. The force of

00:50the floodwaters racing down the mountains carried literal tons of rocks

00:55and mud, flipping vehicles, pushing homes right off of their foundations.

01:00Some homes and businesses closest to the river's edge crumbled and washed

01:04away. There has been a flurry of helicopters in the air, and many are

01:08privately owned. Adam Smith is helping to organize this mission with loved

01:13ones trapped in remote communities. People are using social media to

01:16organize these helicopter flights, bringing in critical supplies and

01:19relief and then flying out those who are hurt or desperately need to get out.

01:26I really appreciate everything they've done because we really needed the

01:30water. So that's really been great. I know a lot of people's out there

01:33trying to help. So and I appreciate it all. It was awful. I was a nervous

01:40wreck. It's been rough, but we're managing. So finally, we're getting

01:44some water that we can do.

01:49Now you're hearing from a woman who finally got a delivery of freshwater up

01:53in a black mountain at a distribution site, and you'll be hearing from Adam

01:57Smith and some of the others involved with these helicopter rescue missions

02:00later on throughout the day right here on AccuWeather. But again, back here

02:04live in the Asheville area, just tough to see even the damage here. Guys, the

02:08power of the water. You could see these rivers and creeks usually very quiet,

02:13pretty calm. Look how high this debris is well over my head. The force of

02:17this water flipping tractor trailers, um, like toys and cars all over the

02:22place. And unfortunately, the search continues this morning as people try to

02:26track down who's missing and who's unaccounted for. And Bill, oftentimes

02:30when we're looking at flooding and river flooding and stream flooding,

02:33it's very localized to where the streams and rivers are located. It

02:37appears and you can tell me if I'm wrong that this is very widespread with

02:42lots of areas, uh, that were were not left untouched.

02:48Absolutely. Yeah, those streams, creeks, rivers, basically everything

02:53running down off of these mountains in western North Carolina in the

02:57surrounding region has been impacted. We Bernie, we have not passed by a

03:01streamer Creek that has not caused substantial issues and damage here. And

03:05again, Helene had a lot of rough impacts with the rain and wind, but

03:09really what amplified this days and days of torrential rain before Helene even

03:14arrives. Yeah, Bill, we'll do exactly right. That rain started Tuesday night,

03:19Wednesday and then accelerated Thursday into Friday. Bill Waddell from Asheville,

03:24North Carolina this morning.

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